Title: Dear Colleague Letter: Cancellation of FY 2015 FESD Competition
(nsf14024)
Date: 1/6/2014
NSF 14-024
Dear Colleague Letter: Cancellation of FY 2015 FESD Competition
December, 2013
Dear Colleague:
In response to recommendations by the NSF Advisory Committee for
Geoscience set forth in their report, GEO Vision (2009), the
Directorate for Geosciences initiated the program, Frontiers of Earth
Systems Dynamics (FESD) in FY 2010. Its goals were to foster an
interdisciplinary and multi-scale understanding of the interplay among
and within the sub-systems at work on Earth and to catalyze research
in geoscience areas poised for major advances. Specifically, the
focus was to explore the coupling among different aspects of the
Earth's component systems over a range of temporal and spatial
scales. FESD projects will ultimately advance our understanding of
first-order questions at the frontiers of the geosciences. Domains
for research include the Earth's core and mantle, the terrestrial,
marine, atmospheric, and geo-space systems and the linkages among
these various parts of the planet as well as connections to solar
processes.
The original plan was to hold three rounds of competition.
Solicitations were issued in FY 2010 and FY 2012 and a number of
cutting edge projects were funded. See, for example, the [1]press
release on the most recent FESD awards.
Due to the uncertainty of future funding levels, GEO has revisited its
budgetary plans. As a result, GEO will not be holding the third round
of competition for the FESD program in FY 2015 as originally planned
and at this time, GEO does not expect to hold any future FESD
competitions. GEO regrets that this decision impacts many in our
community who have invested time and other resources in building teams
and projects for submission to the expected solicitation.
Sincerely,
Roger Wakimoto
Assistant Director for Geosciences
References
1. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?org=NSF&cntn_id=128983&
preview=false